


Five Years

by notjustmom



Series: Pepperony Week 2019 [4]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Endgame Fix-It, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Missing Scenes, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, The Velveteen Rabbit, established pepper potts/tony stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-11 07:02:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20149600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notjustmom/pseuds/notjustmom
Summary: A few missing scenes from the five years we didn't get to see... this will probably be another long one.Prompt: Missing Scenes (5 years, Mid-Endgame)





	1. Chapter 1

She was afraid to fall sleep the first few nights after he was finally home. Afraid that if she closed her eyes, he would be gone in the morning. 

“Pep,” he whispered as she ran her fingers through his hair. She had taken to reading him to sleep, as neither of them could tolerate the news or focus on movies, and they had barely spoken about the last twenty-seven, or was it twenty-eight days, or anything else for that matter, he suddenly realized. 

“There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid…”*

“Honey.”

“He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be; his coat was spotted brown and white, he had real thread whiskers, and his ears were lined with pink sateen.”*

“Pepper.” He gently pulled the book from her hand and put it aside, then carefully eased up to sitting. “Hey.” He sighed as she turned to look at him and the tears that had filled her eyes the night he came home but hadn’t yet fallen streamed down her cheeks. He laid a trembling hand in her hair and kissed her forehead, one cheek, then the other, and finally found her lips. “I’m so sorry, Pep. I didn’t mean to -” 

She nodded as she moved his hand from her hair to her abdomen, then gingerly leaned against his shoulder, and mumbled through her tears, “the second day you were gone, I spent most of the day in the bathroom, and you know I never get sick, right?” He nodded and wrapped his other arm around her and pressed his lips into her hair. “I didn’t really need to, but I went and bought a bunch of pregnancy tests and used them all - I saved them for you, all ten of them, I knew - I knew when you came home you’d want them…” her voice faded and her head slipped into his lap, as she finally fell asleep. 

He chuckled to himself, then picked up the book again, and began to read. “On Christmas morning, when he sat wedged in the top of the Boy's stocking, with a sprig of holly between his paws, the effect was charming.”* He laid his fingers in her hair and spoke quietly, just in case she could still hear him. “I know I’ve promised never to promise you anything, but I swear, Pepper, I won’t ever leave you and Morgan. Not ever again.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek, then went on reading until the book slipped from his fingers as he too, drifted off to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Tony's blow-up...

He startled awake to a thunderstorm, as lightning brightened the dark room. He could briefly make out Pepper's shape, in the chair next to his bed; she had fallen asleep, her head rested on one hand, while the other was resting lightly in his. He closed his eyes again and listened to the rain as he tried to remember how he had been hooked up to the IV again. He took a breath, then glared at his hand, and found new bruises along his knuckles, and his hip hurt. You fell, you idiot. He groaned as he shifted, trying to determine what other new damage he had caused.

“Tony?” Pepper rubbed her eyes and smiled at him.

“Pep. Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” He looked into her eyes, the normally bright blue eyes were so tired, his fault. She should be sleeping, instead of babysitting him. “Tell me what happened.”

“Two days ago -”

“Two days?” He mumbled as she got to her feet and took his hand in both of hers. She nodded and waited for him to remember on his own. “I - yelled at Steve. I yelled at Cap until I passed out on the floor.” He cleared his throat, then looked up at her with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “Was I eloquent at least?”

“Uhm-hmm. Oscar-worthy. So Rhodey said. He tried to stop you from getting out of the chair, but it was like, ‘trying to stop a freight train,’ according to him.” She brushed the hair from his eyes and kissed his forehead.

“Damn. Too bad I can’t remember a damn word of it. Will you -?”

She nodded, and carefully climbed into the small space in front of him. “You know, soon, we’ll have to get a bigger bed for this room - I won’t fit on here much longer.” He wrapped his arm around her and rested his hand over the tiny bump, then sighed as he felt her fingers entwine with his.

“What do you think about building our own cabin, on a lake, just far enough away from everything?”

“Really?”

“Really. ‘There were other things in the stocking, nuts and oranges and a toy engine, and chocolate almonds and a clockwork mouse, but the Rabbit was quite the best of all.’* She snickered then sighed as he kissed her shoulder then mumbled on, “‘For at least two hours the Boy loved him, and then Aunts and Uncles came to dinner, and there was a great rustling of tissue paper and unwrapping of parcels, and in the excitement of looking at all the new presents the Velveteen Rabbit was forgotten.’ *

I want to start over, Pep. You, me and wee one. Just us. Do you think we can?” He stopped and listened to the sound of her breathing and knew she was already asleep again. "It will get better, honey, I promise. It has to."


	3. Chapter 3

He helped Pepper settle onto the new bed that he’d built for her, for them, then climbed in next to her and couldn’t help but sigh as she rested her head against him and closed her eyes. After a moment, she snorted and grabbed his hand, then placed it over her growing bump. “Feel that?”

He nodded, then leaned close and whispered, “hey, little one, time to let your mom rest. Only a couple more months until you get to meet us, I know, it seems like forever, but time is a funny thing. Soon you’ll be running circles around -” He laughed as he felt his daughter kick again, then looked up into Pepper’s bright blue eyes. He had never seen her happier or more content in all the years he had known her, and he had so many questions he wanted to ask her, but as she laid her hands over his and smiled at him, he forgot every single one of them.

As he met her loving gaze, he whispered, “‘That night he was almost too happy to sleep, and so much love stirred in his little sawdust heart that it almost burst. And into his boot-button eyes, that had long ago lost their polish, there came a look of wisdom and beauty, so that even Nana noticed it next morning when she picked him up, and said, ‘I declare if that old Bunny hasn't got quite a knowing expression!’”*

She moved her hands to his face, then kissed his forehead. “You are the most real person I’ve ever known in my life, and she will love you.”

“How do you know, Pep?”

“How can she not? One day, when she’s older, you’ll tell her all your stories, all of our stories, and she will be able to tell from just listening to your voice, and looking into your eyes, that the most important thing you’ll ever be is her father.”

He shook his head and tried to fight the tears that were slipping down his cheeks. She wiped his tears away and said quietly, but firmly, “I know because I know you, I know how much you already love her. And I know how much you love me, and this place you’ve built for us.” She kissed him lightly, then tucked herself against his shoulder and easily fell asleep. He wrapped his arm around her and as he listened to the sounds of his new life his eyes closed and all he dreamed of was a little dark haired girl with her mother’s smile.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgan is two months old...

“So… can’t sleep either?” Tony looked down into the cradle at his daughter, who was already too much like him. “I did try to read one of those parenting books, okay -” He reached in and lifted out the two month old and cuddled her against his shoulder. “I bought a stack of them, read the first chapters and then burned them in a bonfire with the leaves. I know Pepper thinks I hold you too much. She doesn’t say anything, but I know. I think we need a bit of fresh air? Come on Morguna Petra.” 

“You are probably wondering about your middle name,” he whispered to her as he settled into the rocking chair he used when they couldn’t sleep. “You are named after a boy named Peter. You would have liked him, and he would have loved you. He was just a kid, a brilliant kid who deserved better than me. He saved my - I was going to say a bad word. I have to remember you are listening to everything I say. He listened to me sometimes. Most of the time he ignored me. If he hadn’t, well, neither of us would be sitting here listening to the frogs and bugs and -” Morgan grabbed onto his finger and yawned, then looked up at him as if waiting for him to go on. “He loved Legos. And movies. I swear the kid was a walking wiki of pop culture. One day, when you get bigger we’ll watch all the movies. All the movies, Morg’, and you won’t forget, I won’t ever forget, Pete.” He watched as her eyes fluttered closed, and he took a breath, then stared out over the lake. 

“‘Real isn't how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.’"* He pressed his lips into Morgan’s dark curls and couldn’t help but smile as she tucked herself closer to his shoulder and made a tiny contented sound.

“Yeah, I love you, too, Morgan.”

Pepper walked out onto the porch as the sun was rising and shook her head as Tony glanced up at her, but leaned down and kissed him, then asked quietly, so as to not wake their daughter, “coffee?”

“Please?”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last night my writing partner and I 'chatted' about Tony and Rhodey in Endgame, and this is what I came up with this morning, takes place when Morgan is a year old, and it's the first time Rhodey has visited since Morgan was born.

“For a long time he lived in the toy cupboard or on the nursery floor, and no one thought very much about him. He was naturally shy, and being only made of velveteen, some of the more expensive toys quite snubbed him. The mechanical toys were very superior, and looked down upon every one else; they were full of modern ideas, and pretended they were real.”*

Rhodey waited for Tony to look up and see him leaning against the doorway of Morgan’s nursery, then offered him a smile. “Looks good on you, kiddo.”

“Hey. Platypus.” He got up carefully, and placed Morgan in her crib, leaned over and kissed her hair, then tiptoed out of the room and eased the door to almost closed, but not quite all the way, then turned and wrapped his arms around his friend and held on tightly for a long moment, before he pulled back to look into his eyes and shook his head. “Pep.”

Rhodey followed him into Tony’s work space, which was nothing like what he had in years’ past, it was a library more than anything, though he rarely spent time reading or tinkering.

“She’s worried.”

“Nice to see you too, Tony. How are things?”

“Tones.”

“Did everyone get my email? About Morgan? I do appreciate the bunny, she loves it. No, actually, it’s better that she doesn’t get attached to any of you - shit. I know. She just had her first birthday, last week. I’m not angry. I know there are things I could do, overtures, I guess, I could make. I could help Nat, if she asked, she hasn’t. And I love her for that because she heard me, at least. How are the legs working? Nebula told me she was tweaking those for you. She visits when she can, she almost beat me at chess the other day -” Tony’s voice faded and he finally looked up into Rhodey’s eyes.

“Sorry. I’m sorry, Tony.”

“For what, Platypus? The universe is a mess, because we failed, because I failed to save it. But, look, look what I have, my own tiny bit of perfect. It’s perfect, isn’t it? I have a wife - a wife, me, Rhodey - whoever would have believed that, hmm? And a little girl, and this rustic little cabin on a beautiful lake, peace and quiet. And that’s all anyone should want, all anyone should need, right? Well, I left a kid up there on Titan. He actually turned to dust in my hands, he believed - he believed in me, James, believed I could get him home, that we were going to be okay. You know what his last words were to me? He apologized to me. He said, ‘sorry’ as he flew into bits. And there’s not a damn thing I can do to get him back. But you know what? If any of them ever want to come meet Morgan, they are welcome, as long as they don’t talk shop. Just tell them that, will you? Otherwise - I’m not interested. Want to stay for dinner?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Carol meets Morgan... Morgan is three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When my son was three he couldn't say the letter 'L' correctly especially at the beginning of words. When he entered PreK, his teacher's name was Lori, and for most of that year, she was Miss 'Yori.' :) I imagine Morgan is very verbal at three but has a hard time with the letter 'L'. My son is now 15, and no longer has issues with the letter 'L'. ;)

A knock at the door shook Pepper out of her daydream. She blinked and saw Carol standing there and tried to remember where she knew her from.

“I’m Carol?”

“Oh. Right. Please, come in. I was about to make lunch, if you don’t mind chicken nuggets and mac and cheese -”

“I came to see Tony.”

Pepper bit her lip and shook her head. 

“No, I mean - sorry - I’m still adjusting to people. He asked me - well, Nebula sent a message that he wanted to see me, and it took me a while to get back, and yes, if it’s okay, I’d love some chicken nuggets?” Carol offered her a tentative smile and Pepper laughed.

“Of course. I’m not sure - I never got to thank you for bringing him home, wasn’t sure how to -”

“You’re welcome. I’m sorry I wasn’t here that day, I never intended it to fall on someone else’s shoulders, and just so you know, I won’t ever ask him -”

“YUNCH???” A bang of the screen door announced Morgan’s impending arrival, and she stopped short as she spotted Carol standing there. “DAAAAAAD!”

“Yeah, Morg’?” Tony appeared a moment later, exhausted and out of breath. “Ah. New chick. Morgan, this is -”

Carol knelt down to Morgan’s height and offered the three year old her hand. “I’m Carol.”

“Are you real?” The little girl asked her with a raised eyebrow, then crossed her arms and waited.

“Real? You mean like the Velveteen Rabbit?” Carol asked seriously.

Morgan moved closer to her and cautiously reached out to touch her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes and frowned uncertainly. “You’re not real yike my dad, you’re too shiny.”

“I’m older than I look,” Carol said, then whispered something to the little girl.

“Dad! She’s almost as old as you!”

“Well, then I guess she can stay for lunch? It’s just chicken nuggets and mac and cheese -” Tony picked Morgan up in his arms, then kissed Pepper, and headed out to the back porch.

“You’ve been approved,” Pepper said with a grin. “She’s a bit protective of him, but she’s past her biting phase, thank goodness. Go ahead, it will be a few minutes -”

“Thank you, Pepper.”

“What for?”

“I know how difficult it must be, or at least I can guess. I have a family, and I don’t get to see them as much as I want to. I missed seeing my daughter, well, my partner’s daughter grow up, and -”

Pepper nodded. “It took him getting lost in space for a month before he finally stopped. If he didn’t have Morgan, he’d probably still be trying to save the world, it’s still part of who he is, but -”

“Understood. You do have ketchup, right?”

“Are you kidding, ketchup is its own food group.”

Carol laughed and headed to the back porch. She stopped in the doorway, as she heard Morgan say, “that’s the yady who brought you and Aunty Neb home?”

“Yep, she carried our broken ship on her shoulders and brought us home.”

“She must be rewe strong.” 

Tony looked up at Carol and smiled at her. “Strongest person I’ve ever met.” 

He cleared his throat, then glanced down at the obviously well-loved book in his lap, and went back to reading, though it was clear to Carol that he knew the story by heart: “‘It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.’"*


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Morgan is four...

“So how goes it with Build-A-Bear?” Tony asked quietly as he and Nebula sat on the porch and watched as Morgan schooled Rocket in soccer on the front yard.

"He’s nearly tolerable as a companion.” She paused then turned to look at him for a moment. “You are thinking of something you’d rather not think of.”

He shook his head, then nodded. “It was - would have been Peter’s 21st birthday on Saturday, and I forgot. Morgan was looking at the calendar and saw that I had put a star on the day, and asked me what it was for. She didn’t understand why I picked her up and held her so tightly. It’s only been four years, Neb, and I’m forgetting already.”

“Tell me about him.”

“Nebula.”

“Tony, you know I have a computer chip that records everything, tell me so I will know about your Peter, so I can remember him. If at least one person remembers him -”

“You won’t forget me, will you, Neb?”

Nebula snorted, and nearly laughed. “My friend. How could I ever forget the man who gave me a family, a real family? You taught me how to trust for the first time in my life, and that I am worth - I am worthy of respect and love. Do you think I could ever forget my first true friend?” She reached over and took his hand and squeezed it lightly. “Now tell me of Peter…”

“He was -” Tony bit his lip and closed his eyes.

Nebula wrapped her arm around him and whispered, “'And so time went on, and the little Rabbit was very happy–so happy that he never noticed how his beautiful velveteen fur was getting shabbier and shabbier, and his tail becoming unsewn, and all the pink rubbed off his nose where the Boy had kissed him.'”*

“You have it memorized?” 

“I remember every single thing you’ve ever said to me, Tony, as long as I am still around, you will never be forgotten my friend, not ever. I promise.”

“Aunty Neb!” Morgan yelled. “Did you see? Did you see my goal?”

Nebula smiled at the little girl and yelled out, “hoooo-rahhh, Morg!”

“Where did you learn that from?” Tony asked with a grin.

“Some idiotic movie - deleted the rest of it.”

Tony laughed, then leaned his head against her shoulder and spent the rest of the afternoon telling her of the boy who had changed his life for the better, and finally began to forgive himself.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wee bit... Morgan is five.
> 
> (no worries, one more chapter will happen, non-canon, naturally)

“What did they want?” Pepper asked quietly, after Tony had put Morgan to bed.

“Hmmm?”

“Tony. Steve, and Nat. They wouldn't have come here without a reason."

“They have a crazy idea -” he muttered as he climbed into bed and pulled her into his arms, then pressed a kiss against her forehead. “It’s just insane enough to work, but…”

“But?”

“It’s impossible… it has to be impossible.”

“Tony.” 

“Time travel, Pep. They want to find a way to go back in time, and figure out a way to reverse the damn snap… and they asked me to do it. They want me to risk everything I have, everything we have, just for a shot at -”

“Getting everyone back. Getting Peter back.”

“Yeah.” He felt her cuddle even closer around him than she usually did, and he knew that neither of them would sleep that night. “‘What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day…’”*


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of an epilogue...

“‘Autumn passed and Winter, and in the Spring, when the days grew warm and sunny, the Boy went out to play in the wood behind the house. And while he was playing, two rabbits crept out from the bracken and peeped at him. One of them was brown all over, but the other had strange markings under his fur, as though long ago he had been spotted, and the spots still showed through. And about his little soft nose and his round black eyes there was something familiar, so that the Boy thought to himself: 'Why, he looks just like my old Bunny that was lost when I had scarlet fever!'"*

Tony blinked against the darkness, and turned his head carefully towards the voice. The voice he didn’t think he’d ever hear again, paused, and fingers squeezed his lightly as if afraid if he squeezed too tightly he would hurt him, then the voice continued.

“‘But he never knew that it really was his own Bunny, come back to look at the child who had first helped him to be Real.’”*

“How -?” He whispered.

“Aunt May. Her favorite book, when I couldn’t sleep, or had a nightmare, she would get it out, and read it to me.”

Tony whispered, “low light,” and the room began to glow and he could make out the outline of a boy sitting in the chair next to his bed. 

“Let me get Ms. Potts -”

Tony grabbed Peter’s hand and mumbled, “stay?”

Peter grinned gently at him and nodded, then answered the unasked question in his mentor’s eyes. “Everyone’s fine, everything’s as it should be. You did it, Mr. Stark.”

“Pete.”

“Sir?”

“Don’t you think you could try to call me Tony?” 

Even in the low light, Tony could see Peter blush, but after a moment, he nodded and cleared his throat and whispered, “okay, Tony. When I met Morgan, before I even told her my name, she took me by the hand and walked me into the kitchen and pointed to the picture of us, you know the one near the sink, and she said, ‘you’re you, right? My dad has always told me stories about a boy, a boy he lost. And now you’re found,’ she said.” 

Tony watched tears run down Peter’s face and realized as he reached over to wipe them away, that he hadn’t aged a day since Titan. He could still see the scrapes and bruises he’d suffered during their first battle with Thanos five years earlier. He laid his hand along Peter’s tight jaw and blinked away his own tears as Peter bit his lip, then carefully lowered his head until it rested on Tony’s shoulder and as only a seventeen year old boy could, fell fast asleep.

He looked up to see Pepper leaning against the doorway, her face was smudged with dirt and her hair was a mess, but she’d never been more beautiful. 

“Hey, Ms. Potts.”

“Mr. Stark.”

“Morgan?”

“She’s asleep, she wanted to stay awake until you woke up, but we weren’t sure - I can move Peter to his room -” 

Tony smiled at her and shook his head.

“You did it,” she whispered.

“No, we all did, if I remember correctly.”

Pepper walked into the room, then leaned over him and kissed his forehead. “Rest now, love, you can rest now.” Tony breathed out a sigh of relief, closed his eyes and went back to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> * from The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams


End file.
